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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Yagawak of Papua New Guinea

The Yagawak of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 1,700 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea; a dialect subgroup of Wantoat (wnc) They are an Indigenous people, in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Wantoat.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Yagawak

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Wantoat (wnc)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 1,700
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010638
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Pray for the Yagawak of Papua New Guinea

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Protestant… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wantoat
Language Family: Nuclear Trans New Guinea

%
Wantoat Speakers

Media Resources in Wantoat:

Films:

No entries found for: Wantoat(wnc). Help build some!

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Bible Resources in Wantoat:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Wantoat bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Yagawak

The Yagawak are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Yagawak

The Yagawak are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Yagawak

The Yagawak are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Yagawak of Papua New Guinea

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
readJohn 3:18

Pray for those who are living under the burden of their sin to believe in Jesus, the only Son of God, and receive freedom.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
readRevelation 4:11

Pray that the good news will advance and people will recognize and worship the One who created all things by His will, giving glory and honor to Him alone.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
readColossians 4:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, as they bring needs before the Lord.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
readPsalm 96:4

Pray that God will raise up believers to declare His glory among the lost, so that they may know that He is great and greatly to be praised, that He is exalted above all gods. 

Yagawak (ROP3 - 110916) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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